It's been 17 years since Madeleine McCann vanished during a family holiday in Portugal - and mum Kate McCann has never given up hope.
Madeleine, who was then just three years old, vanished from the McCann's holiday apartment in Pria Da Luz on May 3, 2007. Extensive search efforts ensued, but the little girl's whereabouts remain a mystery to this day. For Kate, thoughts of her lost eldest daughter are never far from her mind.
Having endured every parent's worst nightmare, Kate and husband Gerry have stood strong for their twins, Sean and Amelie, all while continuing to look for the child whose birthday they still celebrate every single year.
As a voicemail left on a Scotland Yard answer machine blows the Madeleine McCann case wide open, the Mirror takes a look at Kate McCann's life now, from her painful marital issues to her important new job...
Strain on marriage and intimacy issues
Kate feared her marriage would break apart due to her heartbreaking intimacy issues (PA)Kate, now 56, has previously opened up candidly about the toll Madeleine's disappearance has had on her marriage, with intimacy proving to be a particularly difficult topic. In her 2011 memoir, Madeleine: Our daughter's disappearance and the continuing search for her, Kate revealed: "The first was my inability to permit myself any pleasure, whether it be reading a book or making love to my husband. The second stemmed from the revulsion stirred up by my fear that Madeleine had suffered the worst fate we could imagine: falling into the hands of a paedophile."
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Such terrible images 'tortured' Kate to such an extent that the very thought of sex 'repulsed' her. She added: "I worried about Gerry and me. I worried that if I didn't get our sex life on track our whole relationship would break down." Thankfully, Gerry understood her difficulties, and the couple are still going strong to this day.
New job
Kate quite her job to focus her efforts on finding her daughter (ENTERPRISE NEWS AND PICTURES)
She was prompted to return to work during the pandemic (Paul Tonge)Kate left her job as a GP to concentrate all her efforts on the search for Madeleine, however, in 2021, she decided to return to her calling, amid the devastation of the coronavirus pandemic. A family friend told The Sun at the time that Kate had begun work as a doctor in hospitals in Leicester - one of the country's worst-hit areas.
The source said: "Kate's back working as a doctor. She's helping out at her local hospitals now and not doing any surgery work. She has thrown herself back into a full-time job to assist others in need. There's such a demand for qualified medics during these unprecedented times."
Tear-jerking tradition
Kate still thinks about the sort of gifts Madeleine would enjoy (PA)
The family still piles Madeleine's room with presents, in the hopes she'll one day unwrap them (METROPOLITAN POLICE/AFP via Gett)Although it's been so many years since Madeleine's disappearance, Kate still makes sure to buy her daughter presents every year for her birthdays and Christmas. In 2017, on the tenth anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance, Kate shared: "I do all the present buying. I think about what age she is and buy something that, whenever we find her, will still be appropriate so there's a lot of thought goes into it."
The heartbroken mother also described Madeleine's birthday as a 'difficult time because that's when you really feel her absence." In her book, Kate spoke of how the family had continued to mark her by holding sweet birthday tea parties, after which they fill Madeleine's room with gifts they still holdout hope she'll one day unwrap.
Kate wrote: "Monday, May 12, 2008, was Madeleine's fifth birthday. As we've continued to do since, we had a tea party at home, with balloons cake, cards, and presents. The presents go into Madeleine's room to await her return. Her pink bedroom remains exactly as it was when she left it but it's a lot busier now. There are gifts people have sent – from teddy bears to rosary beads – and photographs and pictures Sean and Amelie have drawn for her pinned on the walls."
She continued: "She also has a keepsake box in which the twins leave little things for her: the last sweet in their packet, a new drawing, sometimes just a leaf that has taken their fancy. Everyone sits in there from time to time to feel close to her. The children sometimes borrow toys to play with for a while but they always return them for Madeleine."
Last year, on missing Madeleine's 20th birthday party, Kate and Gerry took to the Official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook page with the following determined message: "Happy birthday Madeleine. Still very much missed. Still looking. For as long as it takes…"
If you're struggling and need to talk, the Samaritans operate a free helpline open 24/7 on 116 123. Alternatively, you can email jo@samaritans.org or visit their site to find your local branch
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